Fig. 57.—Bend Shortening.
Fig. 58.—Chain Knot.
The knot shown in Figs. 55 and 56 is called “manharness,” or the “artilleryman’s knot,” and is used when hauling guns over a difficult country, when horses cannot be employed. It is a valuable knot where heavy weights have to be drawn with ropes, as by its use a man can exert his strength to much greater advantage than by merely grasping the rope with his hands. To make it, form a half-hitch, turn it round, and lay it against the standing part. This is, in fact, a marlinespike hitch, and is represented in Fig. 40, p. 40. Now pass the right hand into the bight C, and going under A, as shown in Fig. 55, grasp the part B, and draw it through C until a loop of sufficient size is made. When using it, the head and one arm are passed through the loop illustrated in Fig. 56, which shows the knot finished. A little care is required in closing the knot, so that the turns may jam properly one against the other, or the knot will slip. When several men are employed, a bowline is generally made at the end of the rope, and as many loops as there are men to haul at equal distances along it.
It frequently happens that a rope is too long for its purpose, and as it is inadvisable and wasteful to cut it, some method of reducing its length has to be devised; hence have arisen what are termed “shortenings.”
The “loop” or “bend” shortening (Fig. 57) is the simplest of these. The rope is merely bent as much as is required, so as to form two bights, and the two parts seized together with small stuff. This is a simple and good method of shortening ropes.
Fig. 59.—Beginning Chain Knot.
The “chain knot” (Fig. 58) is another method of shortening ropes. In beginning it, make a running knot (Fig. 59), and draw a portion of the part A through the loop B; do this with the forefinger and thumb of the left hand. It will now form another loop, through which a fresh piece of A is to be passed. This process is to be repeated until all the slack of the rope is taken up. Finish it off by putting a piece of stick or a belaying-pin through the last loop, or by drawing the end itself up through the bight.
